Thursday, July 17, 2014

Interview with Just Stay author Michelle Abbott

Interview with Just Stay author Michelle Abbott

Synopsis:

The last place Pia wants to be is on a family vacation in a sleepy Cornish village. She’s anticipating two weeks of mind-numbing boredom. Then she meets Trey, a local boy. He’s absolutely gorgeous. The trouble is — he knows it. He’s arrogant and egotistical, and Pia intends to avoid him at all costs.

But Trey is not the kind of guy who gives up easily. When he sets his sights on Pia, her resistance is futile.

It’s just a holiday romance, some light-hearted fun, right? But one of them is about to discover that still waters do, indeed, run deep. When what lurks beneath the surface finally erupts, the consequences may prove to be catastrophic.

Michelle Abbott lives in the UK and hates describing herself in 3rd person.

She's a self-published author who loves to write new adult romance about heroes who begin as the underdog and are protective of their girl.

She's an avid reader of romance, is addicted to coffee and loves wine and chocolate, so yeah, not the most healthy eating and drinking habits :-) She spends way too much time online when she should be writing. She collects teddy bears and occasionally knits a couple of rows on a sweater she started years ago, which she may eventually finish in time to wear for her funeral :-)

No, I write one book at a time so I don’t get
confused. When I write I get into the heads of my characters, they’re with me
throughout the day. I wouldn’t be able to focus on them and get to know them if
I were also writing about other characters in other books.

Are you a full-time author or you doing
some other job?

I’d love to be a full time author, but unless I
become a New York Times bestseller it’s unlikely to happen.

Do you prefer pen and paper or Microsoft
Word?

I use pen and paper to write notes when ideas come
to me. I use Scrivener to write my stories because I can move scenes around and
Scrivener makes it easy to create a mobi file to publish to Amazon.

Which one of your books is the best
according to you?

My first book will always be my favourite just
because it’s the first one I ever wrote.

Do your family
members read your books?

My sister beta reads my stories. She’s writing a
book herself, so I trust her opinion.

Tell us about your writing journey.

I’ve always loved writing but never considered
writing a book until I got myself a kindle. I discovered self-published
romances and devoured them. I looked into the self-publishing process and it
didn’t seem difficult. Romance was the obvious choice for me and I’ve always
had a soft spot for underdog heroes, so most of my ideas were based around
that.

Do you reply to your readers?

Yes, I love to hear from my readers.

Do you have any embarrassing tale to
share with us?

I was on vacation in the Netherlands and had gone
out to a bar for the evening. I managed to get myself locked in the toilet, no
matter how hard I tugged at the bolt, it wouldn’t budge. I had no choice but to
bang on the door and hope someone would hear me. I could hear people talking to
me, but they were speaking in Dutch and I couldn’t understand what they were
saying. Next thing I knew, the toilet door was taken off its hinges and
everyone in the bar was standing in the restroom, gawping at me. Very
embarrassing.

Have
you always had a passion for writing?

Yes always. Back when I was a teenager I
loved to write poems and I kept a diary. I won a short story competition
organized by my school.

What
are your biggest inspirations?

I come up with a basic idea for the characters
and plot but once I begin writing, my characters are my biggest inspiration.
The scenes play out like a movie in my head and I write down what I see and
hear.

Do
you have a technique in how you choose characters and/or locational settings?

I choose locations that I have some
knowledge of. Just Stay is set in a village that I went to for a vacation.

Do
you listen to music while you are creating your masterpieces?

No, I have to work in silence or I get
distracted. I listen to music prior to writing a scene and I create playlists
for my books.

What
do you do to stay motivated and avoid writer’s block?

I don’t get writer’s block. There are
days I don’t feel like writing. When that happens I force myself to write a
couple of sentences and that’s usually all it takes to get me back into the
flow.

How
has becoming a published author changed your perspective on life and is it
everything you expected it to be?

I didn’t realise it would be so hard to
get noticed or that marketing would take up so much of my time. That said, I’ve
found I enjoy marketing and that skill can be put to use in other areas of my
life.

What
are your biggest challenges as an author?

Getting noticed. Once people read my
books, the majority like them, the problem is getting readers to discover them
in the first place.

What
hobbies do you have outside of reading and writing?

I spend hours reading and writing, which
doesn’t leave much time for other hobbies. I do enjoy travelling and seeing new
places.

Where
is the most exciting/memorable place you have been in the world?

There are two, the U.S and Greece. I’ve
travelled across a large part of the U.S through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky,
Georgia and Florida. I love the space, people and the food. I also adored
Greece, the little white washed cottages, dining out under the stars and the
laid back way of life.

About Me

Welcome to New Adult Book Reviews where our motto is On the Edge. That's because the whole New Adult genre is on the edge. In fact, it's a genre that a lot of people are just hearing about for the first time. But for those of us who have heard of it and who have dived into it, New Adult is a thrilling addition to the literary landscape.

So what exactly is New Adult? It's an exciting new fiction category about main characters who are generally 18-25 years old (give or take) and are experiencing relationships and problems that readers in that age group (and beyond) can identify with. All fiction genres can have New Adult subcategories, just like all fiction genres can have young adult books. Popular genres among New Adult readers include (but aren't limited to) fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal romance. It's the next step up from young adult books, but New Adult often contains "adult themes" and can have graphic scenes since the main characters are at least 18.